Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.

While leave donation is generally seen as a zero cost to the State because it relieves the liability for the donor's annual leave while creating a liability to pay the same amount in wages to the recipient, the inclusion of "member of the employee's household" to the code has the potential to expand the numbers of employees on leave donation to such an extent that costs to carry out daily functions within an agency would increase. While it is impossible to estimate potential costs accurately we assume that, by expanding the pool of people for whom an employee may be granted leave donation, there is a likelihood that expanded use of the leave donation program would result in agencies incurring costs to pay overtime to current employees or hire temporary employees to carry out the employee's duties during the period of leave donation.

Fiscal Note Detail

Over-all effect

Effect of Proposal

Fiscal Year

2012Increase/Decrease(use"-")

2013Increase/Decrease(use"-")

Fiscal Year(Upon FullImplementation)

1. Estmated Total Cost

0

0

0

Personal Services

0

0

0

Current Expenses

0

0

0

Repairs and Alterations

0

0

0

Assets

0

0

0

Other

0

0

0

2. Estimated Total Revenues

0

0

0

3. Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):

An accurate estimate is impossible due to a number of variables making it impossible to determine the extent to which the changes would increase the numbers of employees utilizing the leave donation program. These variables include: the willingness of managers to approve annual leave for the illness of a member of the employee's household allowing them to exhaust their paid leave and thus making them eligible to utilize leave donation, the discretion of appointing authorities to grant or deny applications for personal leaves of absence, the extent to which appointing authorities will feel compelled to approve leaves of absence for employees qualifying for leave donation under the expanded guidelines, inability to estimate the amount of donated leave that might otherwise be forfeited at year end by the donating employee, and potential costs associated with overtime or the hiring of temporary employees to cover the work of the expanded pool of employees on leave donation.

Memorandum

The bill fails to define "a member of the employee's household". Common definitions include anyone living in the employee's house regardless of whether they are dependent upon the employee for support or not. Does this include a roommate who pays all of their own expenses? A friend who moves in once they become ill?